Guest post by Sharon Crost, cross-posted on the Network Sierra blog.

Let’s do a quick thinking exercise: think for a few seconds about the Central Sierra.  Do you think of history and the Gold Rush and panning for gold? Or do you think of Yosemite National Park, Bear Valley or Dodge Ridge, tasting wine, jumping frogs, or enjoying the outdoors?  Well some of us who have come to the Central Sierra post-Gold Rush think that the Central Sierra is a gorgeous place to work and live and play.  It’s so livable in a way, but in a way not at all.  Because about 40% of the people who reside in the Central Sierra don’t have access to high speed internet, called “broadband”.

So now let’s think for a few seconds about dial-up internet connection.  Do you know, or remember what it’s like to dial up to the internet via modem?  Similar to the Gold Rush, you may think of this as ancient history? The internet is now celebrating its 40th birthday, but a significant portion of our Central Sierra community is STILL connecting to the internet in it’s adolescent connection form, via dial-up.

Now think about what it means to peddle on dial-up while your neighbors are racing on the super highway.   You can’t participate in everyday applications such as watching videos, downloading files, takes classes via distance learning, manage your health, transact business online or communicate with your family.    Surprisingly, while you are peddling on dial-up, your mates in many third world economies are connecting and thriving.   Broadband access means economic and job development, telehealth, communication, education, environmental sustainability and a future for youth that want to stay and thrive in rural communities.

Clearly we need ubiquitous access to broadband, and the Central Sierra and many other rural communities are on the losing side of the digital equality access game.    So I’m part of a group of crusaders working to reduce the digital divide in rural communities.  You can help too.  You can help create a new history for rural communities.  You’ve already been thinking about the issue for the last few precious seconds and one of the great advantages of ubiquitous broadband is that it gives everyone an equal voice.   In fact, Network Sierra’s Community Access project is an excellent example of project planning to assist a community to create and engage in local issues and news and information and entertainment and art, enabled by broadband.  Stay tuned to this blog and check out the Central Sierra Connect project or the California Emerging Technologies Fund for more information and to take action.

Oh, and there’s one final thing to think about in this exercise… think about the reality of high-speed connection throughout the Central Sierra, in rural communities as in big cities, everywhere.  Communities prospecting for gold on an equal playing field, engaging and thriving.  It’s a thought as good as gold.

Sharon Crost is an educator and a consultant mentoring leaders to develop thriving communities.    She tweets as mktwow and can be contacted at sharon@socialmediaalive.com

1. Use digital, open-source technology.
2. Distribute news in the public interest.
3. Test your project in a local community.

A description of the project follows. Please visit the application at the Knight News Challenge and add your comments and rate the project. Changes can be made to the application until the December 15th deadline and I welcome the chance to incorporate your suggestions.

Describe your project (max. 1800 characters)
The Community Access Internet Project (CAIP) provides web-based news and community information to rural areas. It draws on user-generated content and provides community education in the effective use of online media. The goal is nothing less than creating a community of digitally literate consumers and producers.

Should this project be funded, it will initially serve Tuolumne Co., CA (pop. ~50,000), located in the Central Sierras, 120 miles east of San Francisco. The county’s roots are in the gold rush of the 1850s and it has a rich historical character. Economically, the region struggles, with unemployment hovering around 13%.

Like community broadcasting (radio) and public access cable (TV) before it, participation is open to the entire community. However, CAIP goes beyond simply providing media access, by actively pursuing community outreach. CAIP provides classroom instruction and guidance on effective online communication, blogging, audio and video production and legal issues.

A paid core staff manages day to day operations and curates content, such as calendars of events, local news (road closures, snow days, fire information) and news features, including podcasts and videocasts. Featured content may be produced both by the core staff and “graduates” of the instructional programs. Blog space is openly available and public blog entries may be “promoted” to featured status by the core staff.

CAIP partners with other community organizations such as schools, libraries, news organizations, local government, service organizations, chambers of commerce, non-profits, etc.These organizations enhance the capabilities and reach of the project, bringing it to the attention of a broad cross-section of the community.

How will your project improve the way news and information are delivered to geographic communities? (max. 750 characters)
In our community, online information is isolated on numerous sites. CAIP provides technical assistance to the operators of these sites to syndicate their public content, making it available to any web site that wishes to republish it. Syndication will be a significant source of content for CAIP, without requiring any group to give up control of their own information.

The Community Access Internet Project provides a publishing platform for individuals and groups in the community. It provides an alternative source of online news, commentary and entertainment, produced locally and addressing the needs of the community. Because the featured areas of the site are curated, it can develop a reputation as a trustworthy and reliable news source.

How is your idea innovative? (new or different from what already exists) (max. 750 characters)
There are many existing variants of the community publishing platform. We plan to build on the best of these, with an emphasis on syndication and aggregation tools. Simply aggregating existing calendars of events will be an enormous benefit to the community.

The educational and community outreach component of this project makes it especially unique. During the initial planning phase, we will engage with the community to learn what information they want to have available online, tailoring the site to meet these needs. With a successful implementation in Tuolumne County, we hope to bring this model to other small, rural communities around the country.

What experience do you or your organization have to successfully develop this project? (max. 1600 characters)
As the submitter of this proposal, I have over 15 years of web development experience and a strong background in both communications and technology. My company, webdancers, was established in 1995 and has assisted in the development and marketing of hundreds of web sites. This experience however, brings to the table only a subset of the skills necessary to develop the Community Access Internet Project. For the rest, I turn to our community.

Network Sierra is a grassroots organization that includes individuals representing a wide range of community interests. Created in 2006, its goal is to use technology to bring our communities closer together and to maintain our rural character in a 21st century economy. We include technologists, arts organizers, educators, writers, marketers, local government officials and retirees. Network Sierra will serve as the parent body for CAIP. In the initial stages, another non-profit agency will act as Network Sierra’s fiscal agent, however we anticipate that Network Sierra will seek non-profit corporation status.

The Community Access Internet Project will be developed in consultation with a Network Sierra advisory board, which will hire the core staff and oversee the implementation of the programs described above.

Leveraging the skills and dedication available in our community, along with emerging social technology, CAIP gives voice to the many diverse groups in our region, providing them with both the training and a forum to speak clearly to their own communities and beyond.

Photo by Tom Magliery